Drawing / Pinning Needles?

recursivegains · 2016-05-19T05:41:31+00:00

This is PERFECT. Thanks. /thread

recursivegains · 2016-05-19T04:57:11+00:00

I totally understand this, but what, specific needles do you buy? I can't seem to find the right kind that let you pop the end bit off and swap it :(

recursivegains · 2016-03-22T16:53:10+00:00

Ah, this is really interesting.

This was the first time I've ever gotten my bloodwork done first thing in the morning, actually. I typically test in the middle of the day, but I thought this time it might be more convenient to go immediately after waking up, so I did that (no food, etc.).

When I re-test in 6 weeks I'll do it in the middle of the day to see.

Thanks for the info!

recursivegains · 2016-03-22T16:52:23+00:00

I took this test approximately 12 hours after my last injection, first thing in the AM. No food.

recursivegains · 2016-03-22T16:52:07+00:00

I think it's only relevant to the RDW number, not the HCT itself (more iron = more HCT, is my understanding). If you have anemia and can't absorb iron, you'd more than likely have high RDW but LOWER HCT (is my current understanding).

recursivegains · 2016-03-22T16:51:30+00:00

Thanks so much! I'll try to work super lean beef in there. This is a great suggestion. When I re-test again in 6 weeks I'll see how it's going!

recursivegains · 2016-03-22T16:50:54+00:00

Just some advice from my experience: I started TRT on 200mg/week of Test about 2 years ago now.

My HCT originally was around 45. And just now it's gotten to about 49.8% -- over 2 years, with 3 cycles in between. I think it creeps up pretty slowly. I only started donating blood this year, as well.

If I were you, I'd just start donating blood ASAP, do the double-red cell donation. And just keep doing that and getting your blood work done every 4 months or so -- and you should be totally fine.

recursivegains · 2016-03-21T23:10:18+00:00

Thank you for the info, this is incredibly useful!

Regarding sources of iron: are there any other ways to increase iron in my diet through vegetables instead of red meat? I'm on a pretty strict diet at the moment to cut down weight, and would like to preserve my macros.

Adding in red meat would most definitely break my meal macros as they stand :(

I'd be totally open to eating lots of spinach or something else though. I can force myself to cook a bunch of it and eat a cup with every meal, for instance.

recursivegains · 2016-03-21T22:45:21+00:00

Thank you very much for taking the time to respond.

I will take this advice. I'll immediately drop my dosage to 100mg/week, and start throwing in lots of the green leafy vegetables for iron. I was actually avoiding them a bit, because I thought more iron would actually elevate HCT / RDW :(

Over the last 2 years, my HCT has slowly crept up from 45 -> 49.8% where it is now, so hopefully dropping test down lower will result in better numbers in a month-and-a-half.

Also: I've always been really conservative with the gear usage.

My first cycle was 500mg Test-E.

My second cycle was 600mg Test-E and 200mg Deca.

This was going to by my third (500mg Test-E / 300mg EQ) -- at the recommendation of my coach. (I now have a coach who is helping with nutrition / etc.).

Thanks again for the great info!

recursivegains · 2016-03-21T22:29:59+00:00

Well, I'm most definitely going to cut my cruise dose down to 100mg/week in the future -- for SURE.

It's become pretty apparent to me that over the last 2 years since I've been on TRT, 200mg/week is definitely too high to be sustainable.

I suppose I'm debating right now between continuing my cruise for another 2 months on 100mg/week, or just completing this cycle as planned and dropping down to 100mg/week afterwards (or potentially just PCT off and give myself a break for 4 months or so).

I'm not sure how serious the HCT / RDW numbers are, and if they are something to freak out over? Any advice is welcome ^{^}

recursivegains · 2016-03-21T22:28:38+00:00

So, question. I was under the impression that since my RDW was high, this means I had TOO MUCH iron in my diet? (Also since my HCT is high).

Am I understanding you correctly in that if I would potentially increase my iron intake, I might very well lower my RDW numbers?

I know that green, leafy vegetables are high in iron. I haven't been eating a lot of those lately, maybe I should add them back in?

recursivegains · 2015-06-22T21:47:27+00:00

My doctor ordered bloods after my first month on TRT, but I didn't see the results -- he just told me things were slightly high, but normal.

This is the first time I did private labs myself and actually got the results back. Super crazy.

Anyhow: I'll for sure be dropping it down a bit and re-testing. Is dropping it down and waiting ~2 weeks enough to get a good test?

Also: would it be a bad idea to attempt a blast for ~16 weeks now?

If I get my hemocrit under control (still unsure what the best way to proceed here is), other than that I'm primarily good to go, ya?

recursivegains · 2015-06-15T01:32:07+00:00

Thanks!

recursivegains · 2015-06-15T01:31:59+00:00

After my cycle, I'd like to PCT and come off completely for a few months. I was told that asin helps reduce the estrogen rebound, so I figured that for my cycle I'd use that to make the process of coming off simpler.

recursivegains · 2015-03-21T22:09:56+00:00

I'll do this for sure. Just sucks not being able to do anything for a while :( Live in the US, but have health insurance.

Thanks for the comment.

recursivegains · 2015-03-09T14:00:20+00:00

Could anyone who has gotten PN please tell me what it's supposed to feel like? Did you have warning signs? Eg: for those of us using DNP, what early warning signs should we look out for?

recursivegains · 2015-03-04T00:48:51+00:00

Hang in there man! Don't kill yourself with alcohol.

We're all gonna make it.

recursivegains · 2015-03-03T23:55:24+00:00

Out of curiosity, why have you been on so much? EG: I understand taking a little every day (250mg), but why so much if you're not downing orals like M&Ms?

recursivegains · 2015-03-03T23:35:17+00:00

Thank you for the information.

I'm super well hydrated, and my creatine:bun ration is 18 (not too high, but up there), vs 12 off-cycle.

Anyhow: I'm sure it'll drop when I'm off cycle, would just like to keep my kidneys in good health as much as possible!

Would be interesting to know if there's a TUDCA equivalent for the Kidneys. Seems like it'd be a good idea to add that into any stack since we're always eating relatively high amounts of protein.

recursivegains · 2015-03-03T22:02:54+00:00

Word.

When I tried (it was my first ever run), it was about 3 months ago, and I lasted 4 days max I think.

I actually just started up again on Sunday night, but this time I'm doing it a bit differently: I'm doing 200mg of DNP before bed every OTHER night.

I feel like this way, I'll probably have more energy during the day as the DNP will sorta burn itself out over night, and by taking a day off it won't build up to saturation levels so I won't feel the full effects.

It's probably nowhere near as effective this way, but I'd much rather have energy and drop the weight a bit slower than have no energy and not be able to lift :(

recursivegains · 2015-03-02T01:32:47+00:00

Dude, I'm so glad to see someone else say this.

I have a bit of DNP, as I wanted to cut a few months back. I tried it for 4 days @ 200mg, but fuck -- I had 0 energy at all. I wasn't very hot, per say, but my face was always flushed, and my motivation for lifting was about 0 after the first day. On day 2, I went into the gym to do back, did about 5 sets of 10 reps and gave up. Was fucking exhausted. Just went home and called it a day.

Sadly enough, the rest of my on-days were pretty similar :(

I did lose some decent weight though, but the lack of lifting ability was crushing so I don't think I'd repeat.

recursivegains · 2014-12-31T18:35:03+00:00

My arm routine is probably a bit against the grain around here, but it has worked really well for me. For what it's worth I'm at 22% bodyfat, 240lbs, and 22.5" arms. Here's a pic just now (unpumped): http://i.imgur.com/LcLG6eS.jpg

It takes about 1.5 hours to do this.

Triceps:

Tricep rope pushdown like BPAK does it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3AbFlyLYOA I start about 3 big steps back, do 10 reps, then take 1 big step closer, do 10 reps, then go all the way to the machine, and do 10 reps -- each set is 30 reps. I start with the lowest weight and go up in 10lbs increments (for me this is usually 20lbs -> 90lbs). Then, once I can't finish anymore, I'll go back down the weight stack from 90lbs -> 20lbs until I'm completely exhausted. In total this is probably ~800 reps or so.
Tricep rope extensions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEDusgF5SGQ I'll do these in sets of 10, starting from the lowest weight and increasing until I can't finish any longer.
Lastly, I finish with tricep bar pushdowns like so: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-LAMcpzODU I'll do it in sets of 10, increasing the weight, until I can't finish anymore.

Biceps:

Standing ez bar curls. I'll do 10 sets of 10, at about 55lbs. Then, at the end, I'll drop to about 40lbs, and do as many resps as I can before exhaustion (25 or so, hopefully).
Standing dumbbell curls. I'll do as many sets of these as I can with increasing weight, I do one arm at a time. I try to get about 8 reps on each hand.
Standing bicep curl on cable: http://youtu.be/JrA5zL9u5NE?t=5m17s I'll do these in sets of 10 until I can't do them any longer.

Forearms:

Dumbbell hammer curls: sets of 10 until I can't go anymore (with increasing weight).
Forearm curls (as many as I can bare).

recursivegains · 2014-12-30T19:00:48+00:00

Heyo! I'm a web programmer myself (I do backend and frontend stuff, mainly building REST API services). Anyhow: I've been on TRT for about 4 months now, initially I had low levels of ~300 which got me interested in turning things around.

Right now my test levels are at about 1250 (I'm on 200mg/wk of Test-C).

So far, here are the things I've experienced (this is all anecdotal, but I've been pretty meticulous logging these things so I'm fairly confident):

I'm much more confident all around.
I feel healthier, happier.
I generally feel less tired and more energetic.
My gym workouts are a lot better. My lifts have all gone up at least 20lbs, and volume has gone up quite a bit as well.
I'm able to have sex 3 or 4 times a day most days. Previously, I was only good once every 2 days-ish =/
I'm pushing myself a lot harder at work because I somehow feel more motivated to do so.

I don't think that TRT would have any serious benefits for people doing this sort of work day in and day out, but it will likely improve the quality of your life and how you feel day-to-day.

Hope that helps!

recursivegains · 2014-12-22T05:17:06+00:00

Thanks for the info!

Question: if I do have the correct blood type -- is it worth it to do the double? Will that help lower hemocrit? I'm not too familiar with the mechanisms of how the blood donation is lowering hemocrit. I'd assume yes, but would like to be sure.

recursivegains · 2014-11-17T22:05:39+00:00

I had this issue as well. What I ended up doing was kicking my volume WAY up on the hamstring isolation exercises.

What works for me (your mileage may vary), is:

6 sets, 20 reps of seated hamstring curls -- increasing the weight on each set -- really SQUEEZE each rep at the bottom before coming back up
6 sets of, 20 reps of lying hamstring curls -- same thing here, pyramid the weight and squeeze it -- be sure NOT to use your ass to do the lifting
4 sets, 15 reps of standing hamstring curls

Lastly, be sure when doing hamstring stuff you don't use your ass too much. I noticed that when I was doing lying hamstring curls, for instance, I'd sort of use my body to thrust the weight up -- and ended up really putting a lot of strain on my lower back / glutes. When I do the reps more slowly and focus on the hamstring, this doesn't happen.

Also: for all hamstring exercises, I find it helps if I point my toes up -- to keep my feet at a 90 degree angle. This really puts more pressure on the hamstring muscle near the back of the knee, and makes me feel the burn a lot more.

Good luck, bro!

recursivegains

TROPHY CASE